Leavitt Lab
Research Overview
We conduct experiments to unravel the fundamental microbiological and environmental (physicochemical) controls that drive Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Much of our experimental infrastructure is custom designed/built to our applications.
On-going Projects
Clumped isotope signals of methane as a putative biosignature.
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Dartmouth team: W. Leavitt (PI), Jiawen Li (PhD student) and V. Nathan (M.S. student)
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Collaborators: E. Young (UCLA), T. McCollom (CU Boulder), & J. Labidi (IPGP)
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Funding: NASA Exobiology
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Clumped isotope signals of methane from non-traditional sources.​
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Dartmouth team: W. Leavitt (PI)
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Collaborators: E. Young (UCLA), X. Zhang (Princeton)
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Funding: Simons Foundation
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Tracking the H-isotopic compositions of archaeal GDGTs in response to energy and the environment.
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Dartmouth team: J. Rhim (postdoc), C. Harris (PhD student), W. Leavitt (PI).
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Collaborators: S. Kopf (CU Boulder), A. Pearson (Harvard), and F. Elling (Univ. Kiel).
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Funding: NSF-EAR-LowT Geochem. & Geobio.
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Thermoacidophile GDGT cyclization in response to pH and temperature in hot springs
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Dartmouth team: L. Blum (M.S. student), W. Leavitt (PI), O. Zhaxybayeva (collaborator, Biology)
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Collaborators: E. Boyd & D. Colman (Montana State Univ.), E. Eloe-Fadrosh & M. Kellom (JGI DoE)
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Funding: American Chemical Society, Dartmouth College
Mechanisms of GDGT cyclization in Sulfolobus islandicus.
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Led by: B. Chiu (Research Asst./Lab Mgr.), W. Leavitt (PI)
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Collaborators: A. Pearson (Harvard), E. Eggleston (Middelbury Coll). F. Elling (Univ. Kiel),
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Funding: DOE-JGI CSP
Present Funding
Past Funding
